How to Design the Best DIY Website w/ Rebekah Read
Welcome to this rapid fire bonus episode with Squarespace website designer—and fellow SEO pro—Bekah Read!
If you’re anything like me, you just want to get an aesthetically pleasing, functional website up & running fast for your business! Good news—that’s totally doable! Better news—SEO will make that website work even better for you! Best news—Rebekah Read is here to share all about creating a website from scratch! She’s sharing mistakes to avoid, best practices to implement right off the bat, & a lil something special just for us.
With this episode, you’ll be able to:
Discover the importance of website SEO.
Uncover mistakes most website DIY’ers make (but you don’t have to!).
Learn best practices to design a website from scratch.
Meet: Bekah Read
Bekah is a small business web designer, Squarespace educator, and momma of 2. She finds joy in being entrepreneurs’ biggest cheerleader in getting their website out into the world so it can start ranking on Google. She’s passionate about teaching you the tricks to building your brand online & skipping the marketing rat-race of instagram.
Mentioned Resources:
Beyond the Template (Bekah’s DIY course to create a high-converting website in a weekend!)
Related Episodes:
Kelly: Sacred Money Archetypes
Heal Your Relationship with Money
Connect w/ Bekah:
Connect w/ Brittany:
This episode of The Basic B podcast is brought to you in partnership w/ Leah Bryant Co.! Help me reach more service providers like you by following the show & leaving a rating or review on Apple & Spotify!
The unedited podcast transcript for this episode of The Basic B podcast follows
Welcome to an extra special bonus episode of the Basic B podcast. I am here with my friend Bekah Read, and we're going to be talking all about designing a website from scratch. What does it take? All that good stuff. I can't give away all the questions because I'm making this more of, like, a rapid fire episode with Bekah. So before I throw questions at her, let me introduce you to her. Bekah is a small business web designer, squarespace educator, and mama of two. She finds joy in being entrepreneurs biggest cheerleader, like me, in getting their website out to the world so it can start ranking on Google. She's passionate about teaching you the tricks to building your brand online and skipping the marketing rat race of Instagram. Amen. Hello, my friend.
Bekah Read [00:00:45]: Hello. I'm so glad we're doing this. I can't wait for these questions you're going to throw at me, so hopefully I can answer them well.
Brittany Herzberg [00:00:51]: Oh, you will. I have faith in you. Plus, you're, like, so go with the flow, like me. We're gonna have so much fun in this. Like, however much little bit of time we've caught.
Bekah Read [00:00:59]: Buckle up, guys.
Brittany Herzberg [00:01:00]: Not just you, everyone. All right, so here's your first one. Okay. Is having a website really all that important?
Bekah Read [00:01:06]: No, you don't need it. Just kidding. Here's the thing. Like, let's just use this 2024 year as a perfect example. I feel like, as I've been lurking on Instagram, I hear a lot of, like, my engagement is down all the things, right? And that's just the reality in an election year, hopefully next year it'll get better. But, like, that's just also the reality of social media platforms.We all know you don't own it. It could shut down at any time. But in addition, you're fighting against ads and, you know, people with a whole lot of money who are running elections. And so, like, even if you're not in the US listening to this, like, these are just common things that are happening. A website, you can curate exactly what you want on that website. And that's just advantage number one.Obviously, SEO gets talked about a lot on this podcast, and Brittany and I are both huge advocates. And I think one of the main reasons, at least for me, is, okay, we all know SEO takes time, right? So it's not going to be this thing where you put it on and you get your instant gratification like Instagram. But once it starts working for you, you guys, it's so good. It's so amazing. I have a one and a two year old so, like, aka zero time. And I just can't be on Instagram like I used to be. I can't keep up with the trends. And not to hate on Instagram like, there's definitely a time and place for it, but being able to get clients organically through my website is so, so beneficial. So that's just a couple of the things that make websites definitely worth your time.
Brittany Herzberg [00:02:38]: I forgot to say this at the beginning, but the whole reason we're even having this conversation is because I'm hearing so many rumblings, like, over on threads over on Instagram, in comments and things that I write or share or whatever, even just like one to one conversations of people being like, I don't know if I really need a website. I think I'm just going to, like, hang out my shingle and like, just do the booking link on Instagram and book clients there. You can. There's just no sustainability to that. Yeah, it's a lot less predictable. And one thing that you're talking about is huge. Like, anyone who becomes a parent or who has life stuff going on, you need something to be working for you and your website can actually go out and work for you.
Bekah Read [00:03:14]: Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg [00:03:14]: So, yeah. On that note, question number two. What mistakes do you see people making when they diy their websites? And I'm hiding a little bit over here because I definitely diy'd my website. So what did I possibly do wrong?
Bekah Read [00:03:28]: Okay, well, first of all, I love diyers. Like, I am the most. I'm going to call it, like, money savvy. Another word would just be like, I have money mindset issues, but we're going to go with money savvy. So, like, I don't spend money in my business. So I get it. Like, especially when starting out, I diy'd absolutely everything, partially because I had the time. So that being said, I understand the diy route. A couple things, if you are diying it to just maybe pay attention to things that come to the top of my mind is SEO related. So people who ignore the mobile experience, one of the reasons I like Squarespace, I've also been on Showit. I've been on WordPress. But I love squarespace because it mobile optimizes. As you're designing, you still need to check it. Like, things will not be perfect, so you still need to make sure it looks readable on mobile. So that's. That's one thing. Especially when you're designing, a lot of people will design the desktop first. Just make sure you're going over and testing mobile.Second, the other thing, obviously I have mentioned like SEO and just overlooking it. A lot of people just don't think about it and they will think like blogging is dead. And I don't care if only your mom and your dad read your blog post. Write a blog post once a month. Like, it's so beneficial. That's the only reason. Like I get quality traffic because there's usually only so many pages on your website and there's so many places you can put those keyword phrases. If you're writing a blog post like even once a month, by the end of the year, that's twelve extra pages on your website and opportunities, you could have inserted that keyword phrase. So that would definitely be number two.And then number three is, I think people like to be really cute and fun with their call to actions and I get that. But like let's not, let's just like contact me book now, learn more. Like be really clear because the user journey is so important. And so when you are thinking about your homepage, have that call to action button be bigger. I bold, readable and really clear with what it is and then use that same color scheme for the button. Like try to be really consistent with that button color. So people always automatically their eyes go to that button and they know that that is going to be a button. Those are a couple that come to mind.
Brittany Herzberg [00:05:40]: I like that I'm having some resistance to the just saying, like, learn more book here. But I also understand the importance of like having it just be clear, especially when you're first starting out. Like my brain is only going to keywords because it has been some years and I'm like, that's an opportunity for keywords. But, and that is true. But I also get like, I'm having a lot of like visuals of buttons that I've seen where it's like just really artsy fartsy and like doesn't make any sense. And like we think we're being clever and there have been times where I was very clever, my friend, but no one understood what I was saying. So they wouldn't click on the dang button, you know?
Bekah Read [00:06:17]: Right. And you can try it out. Like if you are though, make sure that the button is very clear that it is a button. So the same color as all your other buttons. And maybe if you can like make it kind of pop up or like do something that has action.
Brittany Herzberg [00:06:30]: So that's very clear, total aside. But like that's something that I recently learned that I could like make my pictures do things and, like, have it be a little bit more entertaining. On my website, I wasn't always doing that. And I was like, oh, that's fine. I could do that.
Bekah Read [00:06:42]: And that's one of the nice things about squarespace, is that you can do that natively in the platform. It's just like, you go on the picture, go on the little settings, and, like, it gives you all these options of, like, zoom in. Like, all these options, you just click one. So, yeah, it definitely helps with movement. Keep in mind that you don't want to be too crazy. I think that's a kind of a trend I've seen. I wrote a blog post about, like, 2024 trends that I've been seeing a lot of. If you want, you can link it, but there's some that are just been so interesting. And that is one, like, a lot of movement. And I think it can be really beneficial and entertaining and sometimes really overwhelming. And so, like, maybe you don't have every photo fly in. You know, you do.
Brittany Herzberg [00:07:23]: You. You're like, just play around with it. No, I've tried to do it sparingly, which I'm glad to hear that that's actually, like, a pretty cool tactic. But, yeah, I just didn't even know that I can make them move, and I didn't even think about even the buttons. I used to have them outlined, and now I fill them in because I've learned how important it is to really make them stand out. So I love all of this. One thing that comes to mind that I didn't have planned on my rapid fire question sheet, but I'm going to add in there is, like, one page website versus, like, multiple page website. I know this is, like, a big point of resistance that I hear a lot with people that I speak to where they're like, I don't want to have to write copy for ten pages. Can I just do a one page website? So what are your thoughts on that?
Bekah Read [00:08:00]: I always think you should have more than one page. I have some pretty strong opinions now, don't I? I think one page websites were a really big thing. In about 2018. 2019, I felt like I saw a lot of one pagers that would, like, jump down to this section. Jump down to the section one. It makes for a very long. I'm just going to call it sales page. Even if it's your homepage, it makes for a very long sales page. And in 2024, when I really started to see a shift in the market, even with sales pages for courses, is less like, less content on the actual sales page. Which part of me that kind of breaks my heart because I have the SEO side of me that's like, oh, but I'm losing all those opportunities for SEO. But y'all people, they don't want to stick around forever. They just want the information. They want it fast. If you have, like, a video, if it's like a sales page, let's say if you have a video, have it at the top. Like, you want to make it really clear. And so that being said, going back to the initial thing, you said, like a homepage, an about page, a contact, a blog and a services is very standard. And so I would just have more than one page.
Brittany Herzberg [00:09:04]: I like that.
Bekah Read [00:09:05]: And it's better for SEO.
Brittany Herzberg [00:09:06]: It's definitely better for SEO. Like, if I can really see that someone's resisting, I'm like, all right, fine, just do a one pager just to get something up there and then gradually add the extra pages. So maybe do that if you must. But, like, I agree with you that I don't think a one page is, like, sustainable. And it does make for a very long sales page. And I have, I have never been drawn to the 15 miles long sales pages. It's just too long. I'm not going to stick around and, like, you probably wrote some really cool stuff and I'm just not going to read it.
Bekah Read [00:09:32]: I honestly do think longer sales pages were really beneficial a couple of years ago. Like, back in 2020 when people had a lot of time on their hands to just read. And maybe they needed more because we were in a pandemic. Maybe they needed more, like, oomph to get them over the hump of purchasing, especially if it was like a high ticket course. But people just want it, and they want it quick. Now, like, I invested in a $4,000 course, and their sales page is like a two scrolls sales page is what they call it. So think about what you can put in two scrolls. I mean, that's what their marketing research had found.
Brittany Herzberg [00:10:06]: I love that. That is so cool. All right, so we've already touched on this a little bit, but how important do you believe SEO is, especially for someone starting out? Like, can they just, like, wait on that?
Bekah Read [00:10:16]: I think that it would be wise not to wait on it. And if you're like, it's so overwhelming, dumb it down and literally just figure out a keyword phrase that you think someone may use to find you. If you want to not even do the research on if it's an effective keyword phrase, fine, skip that. Probably shouldn't, but just do whatever is easiest for you. Like Nashville wedding photographer. Perfect. Put that somewhere on your homepage. Make it really simple in the beginning, but when you have a little bit of extra time, do a little bit of keyword research. Figure out what keywords are going to be more likely in which, like, you can actually rank for them. You know, even if it's just two keyword phrases. That's great. Use those two and variations of it a couple times on your website. In some blogs, like in the beginning, you really don't need to make it super difficult, but yes, I still think it's super important.
Brittany Herzberg [00:11:06]: Yeah, I agree with you. One thing that my boyfriend did, so he did SEO better than I did for a lot longer than I did, and he's got the traffic to show for it. So he did one blog a month. To your point, he's not on social media. That's how he drives traffic to him and that's how he gets clients. And it's amazing. One blog a month. He's done it for, I don't know, two plus years. It's incredible. He's up to like 13,000 website views a month. It's nuts. Mine is not there. So to bring back the money conversation, it's like compound interest. It really pays off. And then the other thing is that when he started doing keyword research, he would just type whatever phrase into Google and then, you know how there's the dropdown. So what Google does is it puts like the more searched terms toward the top. So you don't even have to, like, I use ubersuggest. You don't have have to. You don't have to go invest in a tool and spend hours doing that. You can just look at what Google is telling you because it's telling you stuff right there. I love that.
Bekah Read [00:11:54]: Yeah. Or even Pinterest. Just go into Pinterest, typing it in. And that's a search engine, too. It'll give you some blog post ideas or whatever. All free and easy.
Brittany Herzberg [00:12:03]: I love it. Okay, so how can basic business owners like me, like, quickly design a website that's going to work for them?
Bekah Read [00:12:09]: So come to my free training. It's on the 24th and if you missed it, I'll have a link that will continue to host it. But I am going to dive into, like, what a website really needs to make that conversion, make that sale. And yeah, we're going to go all into it and we'll even touch on SEO because I really, really think it's important.
Brittany Herzberg [00:12:30]: Yeah, she does. Like, I put her up to that question, but she really does. I know you do, because I've seen you talk about it on the Internet. How can people find you? Get in your world. Let's say they're hearing this after that webinar. Where can they find you?
Bekah Read [00:12:42]: Yeah. So, Rebecca recreative.com. i spell my name kind of funny. So she'll link it. You can go on my website. I am on Instagram after hating on it, and I do like it. I just kind of do my own thing. Like, don't come to me for Instagram strategy, you know, connect me on Instagram. Send me a little voice note. Brittany and I are big advocates of voice memos. That's how we first got connected. Yeah. So voice know me, and I'd be happy to just check out your website if you're kind of diying it.
Brittany Herzberg [00:13:09]: I love it. Is there anything else you want to add as we wrap up?
Bekah Read [00:13:12]: No, this was great. This is rapid fire. I loved it. I love these quick podcast episodes. So, hopefully all you listeners did, too.
Brittany Herzberg [00:13:18]: We made it especially for, like, the moms and the parents out there, because you understand how short on time they are.
Bekah Read [00:13:23]: Yes.
Brittany Herzberg [00:13:24]: This was awesome.
Bekah Read [00:13:25]: Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg [00:13:25]: Speaking of which, you should probably go.
Bekah Read [00:13:26]: Back to your children or maybe start paying attention. That's more likely for me. I, like, listen to podcasts so that I feel connected with the world, you know, and with other adults.
Brittany Herzberg [00:13:35]: Yeah.
Bekah Read [00:13:35]: While my children are there. Is that a good thing? I don't know.
Brittany Herzberg [00:13:38]: Whatever.
Bekah Read [00:13:38]: They're fine.
Brittany Herzberg [00:13:39]: You're rocking mom life, my friend.
Bekah Read [00:13:40]: Thanks.
Brittany Herzberg [00:13:41]: You're just doing it. You're welcome. Thanks for tuning in, and I'll catch you next time.